Early bird Ashton clips brave Wigan's wings

Saturday 16 August 2008 19.01 EDT
First published on Saturday 16 August 2008 19.01 EDT

Alan Curbishley had a spring in his step when he walked off at half-time with West Ham basking in a 2-0 lead courtesy of Dean Ashton's clinical finishing. The vultures Curbishley had admitted were circling after he was made favourite to become the first Premier League manager to lose his job were nowhere to be seen.

At the end the feeling was more of relief at hanging on to all three points after Wigan mounted a commendable comeback that would have at least have brought them level if some gilt-edged chances had been accepted.It was the classic game of two halves and made for a thoroughly entertaining afternoon in which the result was in doubt right up to the moment in stoppage time when Wigan's new Egyptian striker Amr Zaki miscued the third opening that came his way. Zaki's sweet strike in the 47th minute had turned the tide for his side, who, for the rest of the game, were the dominant force, thanks largely to the midfield drive, enterprise and subtle passing of Wilson Palacios.

The Honduran carved great gaps in a tiring West Ham midfield, but as manager Steve Bruce admitted: 'You can't concede two goals in the first nine minutes and expect to get something out of the game. We prided ourselves at the end of last season of giving nothing away, so that was the most disappointing thing. You can't get away with it in this league. But there are still plenty of positives.'

Ashton's contribution in front of the England manager, Fabio Capello, ended prematurely with what Curbishley hopes will be nothing worse than cramp. 'We shall know more [today],' he said. 'His first goal was terrific; the second, a case of being in the right place at the right time.

'We played well in the first half. Our passing was not good enough after that and there were some tired legs out there. But our defensive work was great.'

West Ham could not have made a better start - and Ashton could not have done more to impress Capello. With three minutes on the clock, he brought down an angled cross from Julien Faubert, turned Paul Scharner and lashed an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net.

Curbishley had challenged a new slim-line Ashton to pick up the threads of last season's late burst of scoring - and he was there again when Faubert's corner was helped on by Calum Davenport to the far post. Wigan, all over the place defensively, then needed Chris Kirkland to flick over a looping header from Carlton Cole. Faubert's delivery continued to be a feature of the game, but two minutes into the second half, Emile Heskey flicked on a long throw and Zaki buried a volley.

With Wigan's two front men posing problems and Palacios exerting a growing influence in midfield, the game took on a different complexion. Antonio Valencia supplied Palacios who lifted his shot into the crowd. When Zaki headed wide and drove over - both from good positions - West Ham were struggling to keep a lid on this comeback.

THE FANS' PLAYER RATINGS AND VERDICT

David Rosenberg, Observer readerIt was a struggle, I have to say. We peaked early and proceeded to go to sleep. The mood was pensive before the game and none of our fans seem really that optimistic this season. Curbishley doesn't have a rapport with the supporters and we've got a few injuries, so when we went two up there was complete disbelief. Wigan were very poor in the beginning, but took the game to us in the second half. I don't think we'll be very good this season because our squad is thin and the fans were unusually quiet for the first game of the season. The brightest spark was Dean Ashton – he was quality as usual.

Dave Whalley, Observer readerIt wasn't too bad after the first 20 minutes. But it was third-division stuff to start with. The second half was pretty much one-way traffic and it was disappointing not to get at least a point out of it. Scharner was at fault for the first goal but has been injured most of pre-season and I was surprised he was playing. Palacios ran the show after half-time and Zaki caused them all sorts of problems. Cattermole worked hard and Boyce was his usual reliable self. It's disappointing to lose to a side you hope to be competing with in mid-table, but if we play like we did in the second half, we'll give most teams a good game.